North Carolina Early Learning and Development Progressions: Birth to Five

Domain: NC Foundations for Early Learning: Emotional and Social Development (ESD)

Subdomain: Developing a Sense of Self

Goal: Children express positive feelings about themselves and confidence in what they can do.

Skill Progression: Expresses confidence in abilities and persistence toward goals

Age: 1-2 Months

Click here to go to all skills for ages 1-2 Months.

Stares at faces and surroundings for long periods of time

Situations for Observation of Skill

Watch parent-infant face-to-face interaction and baby-environment engagement.

Elicitation Strategy

No elicitation is needed. Parents will naturally talk to their baby. The baby will also naturally observe the environment.

Behavior Observed

The baby stares at the parents face (specifically the eyes) and then looks away for a break. When not in face-to-face interaction, the baby stares at close objects.

Routines-based Intervention (Embedded Instruction)

Help parents understand the importance of face-to-face communication. This is the infant’s first communication and such interaction builds attachment to the parent. Encourage parents to talk to their baby, give wait time for the infant to listen and look, then talk again.

 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, 2015

©2015 by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/.